ROA’s graffiti rabbit faces removal by Hackney Council
ROA's giant rabbit is 'a thing of beauty' according to Julia Craik, managing director of the Premises recording studio and cafe upon which it is painted. Photo:© Tim Sullivan
One of Hackney’s most prominent street paintings could be obliterated by the council. In late September environmental officers ordered the owners of a shopfront at 203 Hackney Road to remove a 12ft rabbit painting on its wall. The graffiti is the work of renowned Belgian artist ROA, who has been creating complex and imaginative paintings of animals on buildings across Europe and New York and has recently won a commission in São Paulo, Brazil.
“People are constantly passing by, taking photos [of the rabbit] and street art is one of Hackney’s important features that many people visit the borough to tour,” said Julia Craik, the managing director of the Premises recording studios, which owns the shopfront. “Hackney Council describes it [in the removal notice] as ‘a blight on the environment’ and ‘detrimental to the amenity of the area’ when quite clearly it is the opposite,” she added.
A council spokesperson said in a statement: “Whilst it is not the council’s position to make a judgement call on whether graffiti is art or not, our task is to keep Hackney’s streets clean.”
“As part of our enforcement policy, which is informed by DEFRA guidance, we initially contacted the property owner on an informal basis and offered advice…This was followed by a letter and another visit to the property before the removal notice was served. However, we are currently holding our enforcement action to allow the owner a further opportunity to seek planning [permission] advice about retaining the piece.”
Ms Craik said getting planning permission is time-consuming and costly, adding that “it is a very deceitful way of making money”. The deadline given to the Premises to remove the graffiti expired on 14 October. The council now reserves the right to paint over the wall at the property owners’ expense.
The council spokesperson did not answer the Citizen’s question about whether enforcing graffiti legislation remains Hackney Council’s priority in the light of severe the funding cuts it faces. Haggerston councillor Ann Munn did not reply to an email seeking her view on the rabbit graffiti removal.
ROA, who exhibited at Shoreditch’s Pure Evil gallery earlier this year, in a recent interview has singled out authorities in London along with Barcelona as the most graffiti-intolerant in his experience. In 2009, Hackney Council removed a painting of the royal family by the world’s foremost street artist Banksy from a building in Stoke Newington despite local opposition.
Former Hackney resident and professional street artist Ben Eine believes the transient nature of graffiti is a fact of life. Most of the work he has done over the last 15 years has gone. “We have learned to leave with it going. However, everyone I meet while painting loves it and thinks it makes a positive change to boring old Walls. If Hackney [Council] paint over it, they aren’t spoiling it for us but for the people who live in Hackney and many people who visit Hackney.”
To object to the removal of the Hackney Road rabbit, contact Neighbourhood Enforcement Officer Gaynor Brown by filling out the council’s graffiti online form.
Sir.
I have just learned about the threat to that heart-warming piece of street art “the Hackney Rabbit with sad disbelief. In any enlightened country, pompous timewasters like those on Hackney council would be dealt with by the electorate employing burning torches and pitchforks!
Judging by the pictures I’ve seen of the area surrounding the rabbit, the council’s time would be better spent by cleaning the pavements and streets! For the sake of your community’s future well-being, you urgently need to seek out the humourless sociopaths on the council and send them somewhere like “Dali World” (should such a place hopefully exist) in order to develop a sense of fun and basic humanity!
Yours
Dafydd ap Gwilym
I am a local resident and I have just heard about the plan to remove this wonderful piece of street art.
I feel strongly that the council have made the wrong decision here and should reconsider and preserve this piece of work. It is not ‘unclean’ and nor is it in any way offensive. On the contrary it is a work of value that enriches the local environment and the experience of local residents as well as that of visitors to the area.
I would be saddened and angered to see it destroyed.
Honestly if you’re going to take away works of art like this why don’t Hackney Council go and take away everything Hackney has to offer the general public? Hackney needs its young artistic character and it should not be stripped of it!
Islington protects its Banksys so Hackney should protect its ROAs.
I love the ‘Rabbit’. Hackney Council destroying beautiful diversity once again. But I have one small problem. Its not a rabbit its a hare.
I complained about the removal on the council’s online graffiti form, and have just received the following response. It seems that the rabbit/hare has at least a temporary reprieve. But what about the rat further along the road by the same artist? Is there a rat petition, or is there no threat to remove it?
“The Council recognises that images like the ‘Rabbit’ on the side wall of 205 Hackney Road are appreciated by some residents. As you will be aware the Council has a responsibility for ensuring levels of street cleanliness are managed and maintained to the required standards. Effective management of levels of graffiti in the borough is not always straightforward, and has become further complicated by the monetary/cultural/artistic value now attached to certain works.
Determining the balance between retaining certain pieces, while not tacitly encouraging the increase of all other types, is and remains a difficult balance which the Council continues to strive to achieve in a clear, fair and consistent way. Hackney Council intends to try and resolve this matter. In the meantime, the council has currently put on hold enforcement action, while we try to find an appropriate solution, hopefully one that satisfies all those involved.”
Hackney Council today sent me an update on the message that I relayed yesterday. The rabbit is safe!
“In this particular case, the Council’s Planning Service has confirmed that given the fact that the image has not provoked complaint, the Council as local planning authority would not take enforcement action in respect of the image.”